Oh Chicago, How I Love Thee

Two weekends ago we got to enjoy our city a little bit with some out-of-towners. Nicole had a friend in from California so we decided to show off Chicago in a way we hadn't ever seen it before - by taking the Architectural Tour. I was so surprised when I got the pamphlet as we boarded the boat and saw the photo that you can see posted here. I wondered how I had never seen this building before and was excited to see it that day.

Ryan later politely told me that that was just a picture, the building hadn't been built yet. Woops! Looks like I still have a lot to learn about Chicago. The tour was awesome even though I didn't get to see everything pictured in the pamphlet.

Later we joined Ryan's family, including Margaret and Rob from England, at Ravinia. How have we missed out on this for the past 5 years? A $15 ticket to see a concert (we saw Tony Bennett) where you bring a picnic and all you can drink? We will definitely be training it up there again. Although I don't think we will ever be having our picnic catered with waiters and candelabra as some North Shore folks did.

115 Degrees and Rising

Yup, that's us, posing around a trashcan...early Sunday morning. And yes, that is a travel scarf around Sarah's neck.

I got to celebrate Nicole's bachelorette party this weekend in Vegas at Planet Hollywood. Needless to say it was amazing! How could it not be with 13 ladies, a play-doh contest and two free tables? I am still trying to catch up on sleep, but looking very forward to our upcoming trip to EUROPE!!

The Best Excuse

Slumber party with Emily = Treats for Ryan and Laura

I'm not sure who had a better time this weekend - Emily got to eat Uncle Donald's, build forts, visit the zoo, and eat a Brownie Earthquake from DQ (if you haven't tried this yet, we highly, highly recommend that you do), but we got to do all of those things plus hang out with her!

And we learned that she has developed an excellent vocabulary!

For example:
"Oh, what a nice breeze."
"Is this kind of healthy, or really healthy?"
And my favorite, in response to Ryan asking why she continued to throw Stinky Ducky, "Because you keep picking him up."

Like Mother Like Daughter

I mean really. If you don't recognize her, you're not looking hard enough. Bright eyes, trendy pink butterfly ensemble, a pose that says "What? You're taking a picture? Well thank God I look so gorgeous."

It's Lucy Carter!

We were lucky enough to catch up with Darlene and Lucy this weekend in Jacksonville after attending the Cardinals / Padres game in St. Louis. She is so much fun and impressed us with her roly poly moves and her scooting abilities. Plus her smiles and giggles are amazing! Can't wait til the entire Carter family comes to stay with us when the Cubs go to the World Series!

Read more about Lucy and family here.

David Blaine is a Hack

Well, I've managed to fool Laura yet again. Obviously, my first and most important illusion (GOB would be proud) was to trick her into marrying me. My latest ruse was even more important...convincing her to STAY married to me for an entire year. You might be asking yourself - how did I manage to pull off such an impressive feat? By distracting her with a trip to beautiful San Diego, of course!

Our trip out west to celebrate our anniversary was quite a success. Other than a few complaints about the ballpark (as you can see on the right), we saw an exciting Mets-Padres game and feasted on a couple foot longs to kick off the weekend. The next day, we did what any sensible married couple looking for romance would do...went to the zoo. The San Diego Zoo was quite impressive...we both got to spend some time with the panda bears, and Laura got to check out the koala bears that I'd already seen in Australia (no big deal). That night we had a great Mexican meal, at a place where some nice old ladies prepare your tortillas from scratch. We took advantage of the great weather by spending our last day checking out a surf competition at Mission Beach (no Laird Hamilton sightings) and dining outside at a nice Italian place. I'm already looking forward to our next anniversary trip - I hear downtown Detroit is beautiful in June.

It's been long enough since our last post that we've had some other good stuff to report. We spent a great 4th of July weekend at the beach in Michigan. We fattened up on some Redamak's, watched a hellacious display of illegal fireworks (now I know what Brad Gardner's version of heaven looks like), and got to spend some quality time with the family. I challenge any of our thousands of readers to tell me a better way of celebrating the birth of our great nation.

And finally, the Cubs just traded for Rich Harden. Sure it's a big if, but if Rich can stay healthy, he and Big Z will be quite the tandem when October rolls around. Then I can use my powers of mind control on Laura for my most daring stunt yet...to convince her that we should buy World Series tickets.

One Year Later

Hat's off to Gladware's - Press 'n Seal. After one year in our freezer and a weekend of thawing in the fridge, our wedding cake was more delicious than I remember. Maybe that's because I didn't eat more than a nibble the night of our wedding, but I am still impressed.

Pretty unbelievable we got married a year ago! As we celebrate more weddings this summer, it's nice to relax and reminisce about our own.

Life Only Goes Down After College

Or at least that's what we learned at Avenue Q on Monday night. Not your typical broadway show, Avenue Q is made up of a cast similar to Sesame Street - both actors and puppets.

The show was hysterical with songs like "Everyone is little bit racist" and "It sucks to be me" and included acts with puppets getting frisky after having too many Long Island Iced Teas and Gary Coleman as a landlord in a NYC apartment building. I would definitely recommend it. The only bad part was when I got yelled at for having my feet on the chair ahead of me.

"This is the theater lady!"